SACRAMENTO — Not so long ago, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was laughing at the thought of running for lieutenant governor. Friday, he apparently decided it’s not such a desultory office after all, jumping into the race for the No. 2 slot on the Democratic ticket on the final day to file.

He cast himself as a reformer seeking to end the dysfunction in the Capitol.

“We need to embrace a new way of doing things in Sacramento and we need new leaders who are willing to stand up and change state government,” he said in his announcement statement.

Known mostly as the supporter of same-sex marriage and the guy who bowed out of the governor’s race last fall, Newsom has an opportunity to push the refresh button on his image and prop himself up for a bright future with a statewide race, political observers said.

“It’s a path to higher office,” said Ben Tulchin, a San Francisco-based Democratic pollster. “It raises his profile, lets him round out his image and gives him a platform.”

Newsom seriously began to consider the race after Tulchin’s polling showed him with a 33 percent to 17 percent lead over Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn in a head-to-head matchup for lieutenant governor. A third possible candidate, Sen. Dean Florez, D-Fresno, immediately quit the race and endorsed Newsom.

Newsom, 42, has been mayor of San Francisco since 2004 after serving on the board of supervisors for seven years. He made a bid for governor last year before bowing out in the fall, unable to mobilize enough support to overcome Attorney General Jerry Brown’s fundraising and name-identity advantages.

In his final days as a gubernatorial candidate, Newsom scoffed at the notion of running for lieutenant governor, laughing at the question of whether he would seek that office. His former campaign manager, Garry South, who now runs Hahn’s campaign, said Newsom’s ambivalence toward the office will be a central issue.

But even more important, South said, is what he said was Newsom’s questionable work habits as a candidate.

Newsom’s departure from the gubernatorial race, South said, was not that Brown’s victory was inevitable, “but that (Newsom) was utterly incapable or unwilling to do the hard work necessary to run for office at such a high level.”

Newsom, South added, “loves the roar of the crowd and the smell of grease paint but what he doesn’t like is applying the elbow grease necessary to run for office at a high level.”

Corey Cook, a political-science professor at the University of San Francisco, said Newsom’s flaws as a gubernatorial candidate won’t likely hamper him in a lieutenant governor’s race.

“What (South) is talking about is raising money, but that may not make a difference because there won’t be the same need to raise money,” Cook said. “The big thing is that he’s got name recognition and there’s very little money (for Hahn) to turn that around.”

Most Democratic campaign cash, Cook said, will be directed to the governor’s race, either into Brown’s campaign or the various independent expenditure committees in support of him.

Hahn had $341,000 cash on hand at the end of last year, and has raised an additional $38,000 since the beginning of the year. Newsom has raised $51,500 — all in the last in two days.

Newsom conceded that he “openly questioned” the relevancy of the lieutenant governor’s office.

“But, as I’ve opened my mind,” he said, he’s decided that the office will provide him the “freedom and platform” to pursue a political agenda.

Democrats do have to be aware, said Cook, that the top of their ticket’s diversity could pale in comparison to a Republican ticket that could have a woman and a Latino, if ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman wins the GOP gubernatorial nomination and Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, runs as the incumbent lieutenant governor, depending on whether he gets confirmed by the Legislature.

“It’s a valid concern and it could sway some Democratic voters” toward Hahn, Cook said.

James Lai, a political-science professor at Santa Clara University, said it was obvious that Newsom wasn’t ready to run for governor, but he has an opportunity to re-establish himself on the lower rung of California statewide electoral politics.

“He has an image as an ultraliberal mayor from San Francisco, so he’s got to be able to get more exposure, broaden his image, develop a greater political network outside of San Francisco,” Lai said. “This campaign will get him out of the context of San Francisco. He needs to soften his image, make him more appealing to inland empire Democrats and moderates.”

(Click here if you are unable to view this photo gallery on your mobile device) The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek celebrates the life of its founder Ruth Bancroft who died at 109 on November 26, 2017. The Ruth Bancroft Garden is a nonprofit public dry garden that was planted by Mrs. Ruth Bancroft in 1972 and was opened to the...